The Venice Film Festival has announced that "Gravity" will open the Festival at the end of August.
The organizers announced that the film would open on August 28 to commemorate the festival's 70th edition but would not participate in competition; "Gravity" would be screened as an out of competition film.
The announcement has made pundits speculate that Alfonos Cuaron's new film will play as a major Oscar contender. In recent years many of the opening night films at the festival have gone on to get major awards nominations. In 2002 Julie Taymor's "Frida" opened the festival and garnered Oscars for makeup and music. It was also nominated for Best Actress, Best Costume Design, Best Art Direction and Best Original Song. In 2007 Joe Wright's "Atonement" opened the festivities to rave reviews and received seven Oscar nominations including a win for Best Score. In 2010 Darren Aronofsky's "Black Swan" also opened the festival and later won an Oscar for Best Actress and received four other nominations.
However there have also been less distinguished films that obtained the opening gala slot. Last year Mira Nair's "The Reluctant Fundamentalist" garnered mixed reviews and failed to capture a distributor in time for awards season. In 2006, Brian de Palma's "The Black Dahlia also received negative reviews. The film had been promoted as a big Oscar contender but after its Venice opening, the buzz was immediately lost.
"Gravity" is currently set for release in October and since Warner Bros. is releasing, many Oscar prognosticators believe that the studio will use the early October release to gain traction with voters. Warner Bros. succeeded with this tactic last year when the company earned the Best Picture Oscar with its October release "Argo."
"Gravity" stars Sandra Bullock and George Clooney and tells the story of two astronauts who attempt to return to Earth after debris crashes into their space shuttle, leaving them drifting alone in orbit.
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